Dorothy M. Horstmann

Dorothy Millicent Horstmann (July 2, 1911 – January 11, 2001) was an American epidemiologist, virologist, and pediatrician whose research on the spread of poliovirus in the human bloodstream helped set the stage for the development of the polio vaccine. She was the first woman appointed as a professor at the Yale School of Medicine and she held a joint appointment in the Yale School of Public Health.

Early life and education Horstmann was born on July 2, 1911, in Spokane, Washington and earned her undergraduate degree in 1936 from the University of California, Berkeley. She received her medical training at the University of California, San Francisco, earning her medical degree in 1940 and developed an interest in infectious disease after hearing lectures delivered by Karl Friedrich Meyer while at San Francisco General Hospital, where she performed her internship and residency. She performed further training at Vanderbilt University Hospital.

Horstmann had initially been rejected from the residency program at Vanderbilt as the school's chief of medicine Hugh Morgan only chose men to participate. Months later, she received a letter from Morgan asking whether "Dr. Horstmann" was still interested in the position. He obviously had forgotten that his original reason for exclusion of the applicant was because of gender. She replied with an acceptance of the position. When she showed up for work, Morgan "all but went into shock", but the year ended successfully.

Hired by the Yale School of Medicine in 1942 as a Commonwealth Fellow in the Section of Preventive Medicine, Horstmann specialized in internal medicine under Dr. John R. Paul. Horstmann continued her work at Yale with a joint appointment in both the department of pediatrics and the department of epidemiology, which became part of a newly created Yale School of Public Health.

Epidemiologist She switched her focus to infectious disease after working on a polio outbreak in New Haven, Connecticut. The oral polio vaccine was developed based on this research and Horstmann was able to confirm by the late 1950s that tests of the vaccine conducted in the Soviet Bloc were effective, confirming preliminary results that showed that the vaccine worked and leading to its widespread use in the United States.

Horstmann also did research on the clinical epidemiology of the rubella virus. Her work played a significant role in assuring the safety and effectiveness of rubella vaccine.

Yale chose Horstmann as a full professor in 1961, making her the first woman to receive the position at the medical school. Horstmann was named to an endowed chair in epidemiology and pediatrics in 1969. A former president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, Horstmann was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences.

Photograph

Photograph of Dorothy Horstmann, Yale.